Cardinals missed the mark by not trading these 3 players at the MLB trade deadline

Chaim Bloom was quite busy prior to Monday's Major League Baseball trade deadline. He managed to trade away rental pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero and fan-favorite outfielder Lars Nootbaar. In return, the Cardinals received several prospects to help the organization in the long term, foremost of those being outfielder Alexander Frias. However, the Cardinals could — and probably should — have been more active.

In addition to trading these three players, St. Louis also acquired reliever Caleb Ferguson to backfill Romero's role and hopefully inject some certainty to the bullpen. Chaim Bloom was one of the most active baseball executives in the hours leading up to the deadline, and his moves will likely pay dividends for several years to come.

Despite this activity, some fans were left wanting more. There were several Cardinals rumors to be dealt, primarily Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera, who could have brought serious packages in return, but Bloom opted to hold on to these high-profile players. There were, however, several other players who probably should have been moved.

These 3 St. Louis Cardinals should have been traded at the deadline.

RHP Ryne Stanek

Ryne Stanek is on an expiring contract, and when the Cardinals signed him this offseason, the assumption all along was that he would be traded at the deadline. He remains a Cardinal following August 3rd, and he'll be with the team the rest of the year, barring a designation for assignment.

Stanek has been as hot and cold as anyone could be this year; he has a 4.74 ERA across 43.2 innings (49 games) with 47 strikeouts and a 1.49 WHIP. He's thrown 37 scoreless appearances this year, but he's also allowed two or more runs in seven outings.

There's a strong chance the market never fully developed or teams weren't willing to meet Bloom's price for Stanek. However, there's an argument that a prospect of any level would be preferable to watching Stanek walk with no return at the end of the year.

C Pedro Pages

Pedro Pages has received excellent marks for his game calling and his ability to control a staff and help guide younger catchers. He's a good defensive catcher, but his .572 OPS on the year isn't good. He is teetering dangerously close to the Mendoza Line, and his .250 on-base percentage is abysmal.

Several teams were looking for a catcher at this year's deadline, and while Pages isn't a strong hitter, his defensive abilities and leadership tendencies would be appealing to many teams.

With the Cardinals depth at catching and Leonardo Bernal performing well in the minors, a trade of Pages seemed all but inevitable. Again, it's likely that Chaim Bloom saw more value in keeping Pages here through the end of the season than whatever he was getting in trade proposals. An offseason transaction feels likely for the former sixth-round pick.

INF Nolan Gorman

Nolan Gorman's name was mentioned here and there in trade rumors. I posited that he could be a surprising candidate a couple of weeks before the deadline, and that chatter did indeed pick up as 6:00 P.M. Eastern inched closer.

Gorman, who has been with Triple-A Memphis for a couple of months now, is about out of time with St. Louis. He made sense as a strong change-of-scenery trade candidate, similar to Dylan Carlson a few years ago.

The 26-year-old infielder is slashing just .167/.328/.407 in the minors for a .736 OPS. He's struck out 47 times in 134 plate appearances, but he's also managed to hit eight home runs in only 31 games. The power is certainly there, but Gorman's propensity to strike out is still an impingement on his overall value. There's a chance, like with Pedro Pages, that Gorman is moved during the offseason when teams have more time to settle on a deal.

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